06 Jun 2021

- Kgatleng region teachers have donated a two-bedroomed house to a needy family in Ramonaka on the eve of Teachers’ Day celebrations held on June 4.

Handing over the house on June 3, Kgatleng education regional director, Mr Mothusi James said the donation affirmed teachers’ commitment to ensuring that ‘a missing child’ was returned to the classroom.

Mr James said teachers were not only concerned about education, but also cared about the environment within which children were raised, as underpinned in the Revised National Policy on Education.

He added that part of the Corporate Social Responsibility of the teaching community was to assist leaners who came from economically challenged backgrounds.

“Over the years as teachers, we have learnt that some learners missed school because of the challenges they encountered in the environment under which they were raised, something that compromises their dignity,” he stated.

Again, he said as part of ploughing back to the communities they served, teachers had so far built 16 houses across the country through fund- raising activities, donations from various entities and from their own pockets.

He said every Teachers’ Day celebrations, teachers initiated activities intended to plough back to the community and that the 16^th house at Ramonaka was an initiative that started in 2017, when the village hosted the Teachers’ Day commemoration.

Further, he indicated that the idea to build a house came about as part of executing one of the previous pillars of Vision 2016 of a Compassionate, Just and Caring Nation. For his part, teachers’ day regional executive committee chairperson, Mr Milner Morapedi said the recipient, Ms Keototile Tshegofatso, was recognised through the help of social workers, who had to identify a beneficiary within the community of Ramonaka.

He said Ms Tshegofatso met the criteria that was used for assessment, given that she was a mother of seven children who were in need of a dignified home, most of whom were school going.

Kgatleng District Council chairperson, Mr Daniel Molokwe thanked teachers for extending a helping hand to needy members of the community. Mr Molokwe recognised teachers’ role of empowering communities through provision of shelter, which he stated was a basic and fundamental necessity.

Further, he stated that government alone could not afford to house all under-privileged families, hence the teachers’ initiative became handy for those that were disadvantaged.

Meanwhile, Ms Tshegofatso expressed gratitude to the teachers for the noble gesture and stated that she would take a good care of the house and make sure her children improved academically as they were now properly housed.

The house was built at a tune of P130 000.ENDS